Lebron James went on National Television last summer and announced to the world that he would not be returning to Cleveland to play for the Cavs.

With his decision came the downward spiral of the Cavalier franchise from league elite, to the league joke. They went from feared opponent to an expected easy win on the schedule.

The Cavs and team Owner Dan Gilbert lucked out in 2004 when they won the Draft Lottery and selected Lebron 1st overall. 8 seasons later, they won the Lottery once again getting 1st overall. Along with the 4th pick (received via trade with the Clippers) the Cavs look to June’s Draft to jump-start the re-building process and get back to respectability.

In Utah, the Jazz went through the losses of Carlos Boozer, Jerry Sloan and traded Point Guard Deron Williams. Thanks to the arrival of Al Jefferson and the phenomenal D-Will trade with New Jersey that brought Utah Devin Harris and draft picks, the Jazz were able to come out of the Lottery with the 3rd overall pick and look to draft one of the top players available in June. The loss of Deron Williams was eminent, and instead of losing him to free agency Utah took advantage of his star profile and was able to score a stud point guard in Harris during the trade and should hope to draft Derrick Williams to add some scoring to their lineup.

In Toronto, we find a different story. Prior to the lottery, the Raptors re-signed GM Bryan Colangelo to a contract extension. With his future in tact, Colangelo represented the Raptors at the Lottery hoping the balls bounced Toronto’s way. Unfortunately and as this story goes, the ball never lies. The Raptors once again lost out on their opportunity to move up in the draft. With the 3rd highest chance to move up to 1st, the complete opposite happened and they dropped to 5th. This is a franchise that can’t catch a break. They had the 1st pick once prior and selected Andrea Bargnani, who has yet to live up to the hype. After losing Chris Bosh to Free Agency, and having yet another losing season and missing the Playoffs the Raps were hoping for some luck. Instead they fell further as the Lottery gods were not on their side and will pray that one of the top players fall into their lap come draft time.

As we witnessed this year, the ball in fact doesn’t lie. Teams that may not have needed as high of a pick as their odds dictated fell down the draft ladder. Good examples of this are:

Washington Wizards - With the 1st overall pick last season, they were able to snag up John Wall who is and will be an Star in this league for years to come. heading into this years lottery, the Wizards had the 4th worst record in the league. After the lottery, however they walked away with the 6th overall pick in the Draft. Maybe that is the Lottery Gods telling Capital City that they’ve had enough top picks!

Sacramento Kings -Heading into the lottery with the 5th worst record in the NBA, and stealing combo guard Tyreke Evans with the 4th pick, they too fell down the draft ladder and will select 7th.

Some would and have (See Timberwolves GM David Kahn’s Comments) said that the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged. With the league looking to help teams that are at the bottom of the revenue and profit list, it’s easy to understand why some would make such an accusation. It makes quite the storyline in Cleveland for Dan Gilbert and the cavaliers to have the 1st and 4th picks after what they went through publicly with the Lebron James fiasco.

Whether pre-arranged or not, the Draft Lottery is nothing more then a tease for what is to come in June at the actual Lottery as teams will begin to prepare, study and workout potential future NBA Stars.